Customer Reviews

One Hit Wonders-Group Effort

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This, and the companion volumes Ladies Choice, Here Come The Guys, Instrumentally Yours, and A Novelty Experience, are brought to you by the same Canadian distributors who produced the multi-volume series Hey! Look What I Found and, in that regard, suffer from the same general negatives associated with that series - i.e., complete lack of liner notes (although they do show the year and highest Billboard Pop finish on the reverse) and varying degrees of sound quality.

Like many other releases supposedly dealing with "One-Hit Wonders" it also takes considerable liberty with the term, as just under half the 30 groups included here had more than one hit. In some cases several more. It is, therefore, the definition of "hit" that defines this and other such releases as it appears most consider anything that did not make the Pop Top 20, 30 or 40, or anywhere on the Country and R&B charts for that matter, as a "non-hit." However, even if you focus only on the Billboard Pop Top/Hot 100, you have to understand that, for every song in any given year that made it into the 100 there were likely 3 or 4 that did not. Indeed, Billboard even created a chart called the Hot 100 "Bubble Under" to reflect the hundreds of tunes that just missed by finishing from # 101 to # 125.

So, in this release, which covers the period from 1955 to 1969, the true One-Hit Wonders are The Jamies, Teen Queens, Fendermen, Marathons, Jarmels (spelled incorrectly above), Earls, Pastel Six, Jaynetts, Larks, Count Five, Little Joe & The Thrillers, Barry & The Tamerlanes, Just Us, Rose Garden, and Crazy Elephant. And if you want to consider only the Pop charts, then add in The Penguins, although, in addition to Earth Angel, they also scored in 1957 with Pledge Of Love, which reached # 15 R&B.

As for the rest, all scored at least one more hit on the Pop charts and, in some cases, some fairly significant R&B hits: The Hollywood Flames had Crazy, the B-side to Buzz-Buzz-Buzz, register as a # 11 Pop "follow-along" hit (one that was chosen in Juke Boxes and played on air as much as the A-side), and also saw Gee reach # 26 R&B in 1961. Shirley And Lee not only had four more Pop hits, one of them (I Feel Good) made it into the Top 40 at # 38 in late 1956/early 1957. The Cheers, which featured the late Bert Convy, also had a # 15 in late 1954 with (Bazoom) I Need Your Lovin', while Rene & Rene just missed the Top 40 in 1964 with Angelito (# 43).

The rest - The Bell Notes, Fiestas, Cleftones, Don Gardner & Dee Dee Ford, Sherrys, Cascades, Rivieras, Sapphires, Capitols, and Neon Philharmonic - all had at least one more Top/Hot 100 hit and, in several cases, upwards of four.

A bit more research and a better compilation effort might have turned up these groups which DO qualify as One-Hit Wonders: The Laurie Sisters, Cathy Jean & The Roommates, The Kirby Stone Four, Tne Fifth Estate, Travis & Bob, Vince Martin & The Tarriers, The Joe Jeffrey Group, The Turbans, Gadabouts, Jayhawks, Blue Stars, Silhouettes, Gladiolas, Pastels, Pets, Revels, Quaker City Boys, Elegants, Monotones, Danleers, Tune Weavers, Little Dippers, Safaris, Hollywood Argyles, Castaways, Strangeloves, Silkie, Hombres and Zager & Evans.

The inclusion of some of those, among them the most difficult to find in a quality CD format, along with background information, would have turned this into a 4-star release despite the so-so sound quality. As it is, only the tracks by Barry & The Tamerlanes, Just Us and The Sapphires can be considered hard-to-find hits.

I truly love what this band has done!

They have taken a new approach to rock that you can really appreciate upon hearing.

Try this CD out!

This Cd has some very good music on it--some that you don't hear all that often.

I LIKE ONE HIT WONDERS ONE HIT WONDERS ARE AWESOME